"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Rhee’s “Gravy Train" of Hypocrisy

"Former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee had trouble recalling the names of South Carolina’s 'key players' after a quick visit to the State House on Wednesday. But state lawmakers may want to take note of hers," reports The State (Columbia, SC).
But in a rare moment of candor and even more unusual modesty, when asked to estimate the size of her hypocrisy and dishonesty, Rhee merely gestured:

Jeff Chiu — ASSOCIATED PRESS

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However, Rhee soon returned to her usual routine—bashing teachers:

Educators make excuses for failing schools, Rhee said. But, she added, “The bottom line is: The system did not become the way that it is by accident. It operates exactly the way it was designed to operate, which is in a wholly unaccountable, dysfunctional manner.
“So when you seek to change that dynamic” – including going after “low-performing” teachers – “you’re gonna have a whole lot of unhappy people on your hands. When you stop that gravy train, somebody is going to be unhappy.”

What does the gravy train in SC look like?

SC teachers work in a right-to-work state, no unionization, no real power of any kind.

SC teachers work in a state in the bottom quartile of states by poverty rates.

SC teachers work within a state scarred by pockets of poverty, a "Corridor of Shame" in which many elementary schools have a poverty index of 100%.

While I have recently re-labeled the current education reform movement Voodoo Education Reform, it appears yet another term seems just as if not more so relevant: Rhee's "gravy train" of hypocrisy.
Look for it at a state house near you.

“One of the violences perpetuated by illiteracy is the suffocation of the consciousness and the expressiveness of men and women who are forbidden from reading and writing, thus limiting their capacity to write about their reading of the world so they can rethink about their original reading of it.” Paulo Freire, Teachers as Cultural Workers